


Legend of the Christmas Spider

by MWolfe13



Series: Holiday Hideaway [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, christmas tradition, haha tags how I hate you so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:08:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27971333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MWolfe13/pseuds/MWolfe13
Summary: He's a goofball. She loves him. They've made their own fortune.
Relationships: Emmett Cullen/Hermione Granger
Series: Holiday Hideaway [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089185
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14
Collections: Hermione's Holiday Hideaway 2020





	Legend of the Christmas Spider

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Hermione's Haven Holiday Hideaway Collection!
> 
> Pairing: Hermione Granger/Emmett Cullen  
> Location: Santa Barbara, California  
> Holiday Tradition Prompt: Christmas Spider
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Twilight. If I did, Vampires would not sparkle.
> 
> Thank you Admin for hosting this! Though I had to laugh when you gave me a sunny location with my pairing.

The weather of Santa Barbara was sunny with a hint of a breeze, tourists’ voices a cacophony outside the small villa Hermione had gotten her hands on for the week. The Witch herself was smoothing down her hair one final time, checking her appearance in the floor-length mirror of her room. Satisfied, she grabbed her bottomless tote and her wand, dropping the wooden stick in the bag, and left the room.

Emmett was lounging on the couch, idly flipping through a magazine as he waited. He looked up when she came into the living room, golden eyes trailing over her. “Ready?”

“Let’s go.” Hermione smiled as he seemed to blur from one moment to the next, appearing at her side before the words finished leaving her mouth. Emmett Cullen was not one to waste time if he could help it. She eyed the ring on his left hand nervously. “I know I said-”

Emmett, anticipating what she was going to say, held up a hand before she could finish. He flashed her a quick grin. “Don’t start worrying now when I came all this way to join you. If I start sparkling like a disco ball, we’ll improvise.”

The one annoying thing about vampires was they were limited in the places they could go out in public unless they didn’t care about exposure. Their hardened skin shone like a million jewels in the sun, blinding anyone that looked directly at them. Hermione had once theorized the condition being a defense mechanism while Emmett told her it was just plain inconvenient. While a symbol of their relationship, the ring he wore had been enchanted with a charm of her own creation. It was meant to stop the sparkling, hopefully. Hermione hadn’t had the chance to test it out, and when Emmett had arrived in the dead of night, her mind had been preoccupied with him instead of looking over the enchantment’s formula one more time.

She felt a soft flick on her forehead, eyes lifting to Emmett’s as he shook his head at her. “Turn your brain off.”

The statement had the effect he wanted, Hermione sending him an incredulous look before laughing. “Not possible, but I can multitask. Come on. There’s a craft fair a block over I want to check out.” She laced their fingers together, moving forward. 

Knowing exactly why she wanted to, Emmett chuckled, letting her pull him to the front door. “Haven’t finished your Christmas shopping?”

Hermione shrugged. “Maybe.”

She braced for the muttered astonishment or disbelief when they stepped out. She was prepared to obliviate  _ everyone _ on this street if need be. But Emmett lifted their joined hands as soon as he closed the door behind them, and Hermione was relieved to see pale non-shiny skin. The ring was working for now.

Emmett let go of her hand, throwing his arm around her side and bringing her close so that she could curve into his body. “I’m a normal boy now. How long before I turn into a pumpkin?”

Hermione’s shoulders dropped with her relief, her arm winding around him and settling her hand in his pocket. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You love me anyway.”

That she did. Who knew the creature to claim her heart would be an eternal goofball that strove to make her laugh every other moment?

Emmett entertained her with impressions of the various people they passed, making her laugh with over-the-top faces and voices. She frequently had to press her face to the edge of his hard chest to muffle her snickers. It only spurred him on, more than one person giving them an unamused glare as they passed. When they reached the colorful booths lining both sides of a long street, Hermione gravitated to the first stall.

She was pleased to find things for everyone on her list as they wandered the fair, her pile of bags slipping easily into her tote. She kept a few on her for appearances, not wanting to give the impression she wasn’t interested in the wares around them but also not wanting to be bogged down. Her gifts were all over the place, ranging from a beautifully woven fashion scarf in bright blue for Esme and an ornament marked with an obscene saying for George-he’d get a kick out of it, for sure. 

They stopped at a stall filled with colorful spider figurines. Some were displayed on colorful dark fabric while others hung from strings. Hermione stepped closer, examining the one that swayed closest to her face. It was decorated in a rainbow of brightly colored beads, the body of the spider gold to start. Emmett touched the one next to her, sending it swinging on its line. “Are these ornaments?”

“I think these are Christmas Spiders,” Hermione answered thoughtfully, shifting her attention to the others on display. “They’re a traditional ornament in parts of Germany, mostly Ukraine.” She picked one up, this one silver with blue and green peppered on its body.

Emmett waited a moment before he nudged her with his elbow. “What? Not going to give me an entire history lesson?”

Hermione smirked but acquiesced. “In one version of the story, there was a widow who was too poor to do much for her family at Christmas but put up a bare tree. Friendly spiders decided to help her, spinning their elaborate webs as the family slept. When they woke and saw what had been done, the mother went and opened her windows to the sunlight, intent on chasing away the spider’s work. Only, when the light touched the webs, they sparkled silver and gold. In fact, some could argue this is also the origin of tinsel…” She stopped herself from going down a hole of folklore, sending Emmett a sheepish grin while he smirked at her. He knew her too well. “Anyway, the family was said to have good fortune from there, and it became a tradition to decorate the tree with these spiders.”

“One of the truer versions of a tradition in my homeland,” a soft voice said. An older woman, one who’d been sheltered in the darkest shade at the back of her stall, came forward. Her accent was European, though softer than some of the harsher tones she ran into that far in. “Some would say Santa of Jesus had a hand in the webs, transforming the webs to give the family some cheer.”

Hermione shrugged, though she smiled politely at the woman. “My version’s older.”

The woman chuckled, “Indeed.” Slowly, she lifted her hand to the hanging spider Hermione had taken notice of first off, releasing it from its string. “A gift for you.”

Surprised, Hermione shook her head. “Oh.. No, I couldn’t-”

The woman waved her words away, turning her back to reach for a box. Emmett snorted and shook his head. He picked up a bronze one lined with deep red beads. “Good luck, huh? Maybe we should get them for all our friends.”

“Merlin knows we all get into enough trouble,” Hermione muttered lowly. Her eyes found a spider covered in bright pink. “Oh, I think Alice would love that one.”

“That one doesn’t need luck. She can see the future.”

Hermione snorted, delighting in Emmett’s disgusted grunt as she picked it up anyway. 

Later, after they’d finished shopping, Emmett had his arm curled around Hermione again, his hand casually rubbing up and down her arm. “You going to put that thing up in our tree?”

She nodded. “It was very nice of her to give it to me, and I’d hate to disrespect a lovely tradition by squirreling it away in a closet somewhere.”

“True,” he agreed before he grinned down at her. “Not that we need the luck anyway, not when we have each other.”

Her heart warmed, her answering smile bright and quick. “No. We have good fortune already.”

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Grammarly's hating on me today. First I sounded sad and then after editing I sound anxious and disapproving. *throws up hands* Whatever.
> 
> Check me out on Tumble and Twitter: MWolfe13


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